I was just wondering, what exactly is the relationship between Reaper Minis and Dark Sword? I noticed you plugging their latest dragon, are you sister companies or something?

Hi Jo!

Nah, we are just buddies is all.

Dark Sword has great relationships (and collects the minis they produce) with:

Reaper
Iron Wind Metals
Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures
Magnificent Egos
Dark Age
Lance and Laser
Croc Games
Harbinger Magazine

We try to hang out at Cons and such and talk shop as we are all mini fans at the end of the day. Plus it is just good to sit back, chill out, and toss back some cold ones with them.

We (as in Dark Sword) like to call out cool stuff from their lines from time to time in case certain Dark Sword fans are not aware of all the cool new stuff coming out. It is tough to keep up with and I figure the more people who know about all the great options out there - the stronger the industry will become.

Let me ask you this - do you know all the companies I listed above?

And if so - do you own minis from their lines?
Cheers,

Jim

Hi Jim

thanks for this response. In answer to your Q:

Reaper- Yes and I own a lot of reaper dragons (produced by minifigs in the UK)
Iron Wind Metals- Yes, but although I have a lot of Ral Partha I've not bought anything from IWM.
Thunderbolt Mountain Miniatures- Yes, I have a couple of kits I picked up off ebay that I have yet to get to, though the casting on "My Hero" is terrible.
Magnificent Egos - Yes I've been keeping up to date with their stuff. Not bought any yet.
Dark Age- Ooh pretty minis, but I personally haven't bought any yet.
Lance and Laser- I know of them but I don't think I have any of their minis.
Croc Games- Again, I love the look of their wargods stuff, but have yet to buy.
Harbinger Magazine- I'm a current subscriber, have been from the beginning. However, I'm considering dropping my subscription.

I tend to buy Rackham wolfen and various dragons.

Regards

Jo

Ok, sounds good - at least you are aware of what other cool stuff is out there.

If you picked up some older T-bolt stuff off of Ebay, it can be dicey as one of the people that they had on that cast up their stuff 6-7 years ago would run their metal super hot and burn out molds.

I have some of their stuff from back then and it is hit and miss on the quality. However, Tom is now doing all of their casting inhouse so their quality control is beyond top notch.

I would recommend buying direct from them as this is the only way they do business now. You will love the stuff that you get from them.

Minifigs does all the Reaper Stuff in the UK huh? So do they sell into stores in the UK then as well?

I was not aware that this was how Reaper was sold overseas.

Dark Age has some killer figs. The Dragari just plain rock. They are so huge and so dang cool. Kinda like the Confrontation Wolfen. Just must-own stuff across the board.

Do you do any old Grenadier figs ??

Some of their old Dragons are just such classic pieces.

Let me know....

Jim

Hi,
but Thunderbolt doesn't offer everything they produced in their shop. For example the great flying carpet with the wizard, the girl and the djinn who carries them (afair it was called "Magic Carpet Ride") ain't available from them anymore. So for some sets you have to consult eBay...

I don't like the old Grenadier dragons too much. IMHO, most of them lack detail, are in strange poses and do have WAY too small wings (aside from a few exceptions but the scale of the wings is a common problem). I'm still looking for their great Goblin War Giant, which is a cool set based on a cool idea, I think.

Afaik Reaper isn't sold from Minifigs here in Germany. Most of the blisters I got are directly from Texas - at least there's nothing else noticed on the package.

I played with the thought to fill in the few holes in my Ral Partha collection from IWM, but I didn't buy anything from them yet. Since I just bought the original RP T'Char on eBay the likelihood of an order in the near future even decreased...

I own some Dark Age minis but I don't like the bases. That's a lot of work to make them ready for the showcase or to let them fit into the look of my others. And I really hate work on bases.

I've got a number of RAFM minis but else I do own just single models from other manufacturers. By far most is Reaper and RP - and I've got the whole DS collection except the amazons and the Gringe Commander, that's a considerable number yet as well.

Ralph

Hi Jim,

Yeah I've got a few of the grenadier dragons. Including the skeletal death dragon which is on my site.I prefer Reaper and RP these days though. Minifigs used to produce Ral Partha, but they now do the UK releases of Reaper figs. Due to the release schedule we don't always get stuff in the same order and we're typically a few months behind the US.

I've not yet bought any of your minis Jim, because I've got such a backlog of stuff to paint (and also because I already have a golden dragon of chaos from RP). However, I will probably get mountain conflict at some point.

Hi Jo,
I'm glad to hear that you finally got your Golden Dragon as well. Perhaps you even saved some money because the prices dropped a bit since DS rereleased the model. I remember our correspondence very well after I won the auction two years ago for my one when I outbid you without knowing that it were you.

In the meantime I got a Golden Dragon from DarkSword as well, which was painted Eric Louchard for me (don't miss the pics on his or my website - he did an outstanding job!). I couldn't wait to get a painted model of this great dragon. And I hope to find the time and the courage to paint my RP Ltd. Ed. model one day.

Thanks to this forum I knew of your new web address and could update the link on my site - our world is a small one

Ralph

Hi Ralph -

Eric did that Golden Dragon of Chaos on CMON for you??

I was going to contact him about putting it up on our site in the Fan Pics section (it is en excellent looking piece).

Do you mind if we put it up there?

Let me know...

Cheers,

Jim

Hi Jim,
yes, the Golden Dragon Eric posted on CMON was a commission job he did for me. "Excellent" is almost understated - it looks even better in reality . Of course, I don't mind if you post a picture of it in your fan section but in my opinion that's something Eric should decide. Moreover, the pics he took for his web site (http://www.lonebrushman.com/other.htm) are of a better quality than the ones I took. I have to try some things with the light source to improve the colors...
Ralph

Hi Ralph,

I did indeed get my dragon, finally! A kind gentleman on CMON sold one to me and has also just sent me the rider and beast from the painting, so I can complete the set! I'm still in the process of painting mine at the moment. But I think its coming along quite nicely. Not surprisingly I've looked at Eric's painted one and the one on here for inspiration!

Hi Jo,
I'm glad to hear that. I can't wait to see your one. Let me know when you've uploaded some pics. Did you think of making some work in progress pictures during the different stages? It would be very interesting, I think.
Btw, if you're looking for the two mounted Chaos Knights on the right and the left of the Chaos Lord on the War Beas_t to complete the scene completely than take a look at Noble Knight's - they still do have a blister of this oop set (RP 02-800):
http://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetailSearch.asp?ProductID=1255334440&InventoryID=1614917897&ProductLineID=-286324988&ManufacturerID=14&CategoryID=5&GenreID=
I got mine from them.

Cheers,
Ralph

Hi,
Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents on the topic of old Grenadier Dragons. The Dragon lords series II dragon of the month series are some of the best dragons I have ever seen, there by John Dennette. They are so unique, from the serpentine Sea Dragon to the Awsome Swamp dragon with the long tounge, I recomend them for all. Of the series 1 dragons I like the Platinum and the Brass the most, And of the series III in my opinion the Red kicks ***. Grenedier's large Dragon sets, especially the Imperial dragon of the eleven celestial dynasties, by William Watt and Teronus the ultimate dragon by John Dennette are still the best large dragons of all time. I have them along with the Golden dragon of Chaos and all the Big reaper Dragons on my mantle and suprisingly, despite the fact that they were cast 20 years ago they are of better quality with lest mold lines and flack and the go together better then the modern ones, sorry guys no offence. I sell alot of grenadier dragons on ebay, many go well over 100 dollars, I painted up an Imperial dragon of the eleven dynasties just before xmass and it brought in 317 dollars. If any one would care to see my work I have a couple series II dragons on ebay right now.
Just type in painted Grenadier in the search and you will find a shire dragon and a dracolisk.
Take it easy - MonsterMcat

I own every Grenadier Dragon from Series II, Series III (All William Watt pieces - which ROCK), and all of the Grenadier Dragons. I also own all the cool ones from Series I. In my opinion, Teronus the Ultimate Dragon is perhaps the greatest Dragon ever sculpted. The wings are a tad small, but man that is one mean dragon. Dragons of the Month Series III is the most consistent series ever sculpted thanks to Mr. Watt.

I actually put Ron from Reaper in touch with William Watt to do some Dragons for Reaper as I wanted to see some new William Watt Dragons and William just did not fit in with the Dark Sword sculpting style we are going for. He did one Dragon for them thus far (it is more of a cute dragon than mean one - but I love it).

The old giant pieces Grenadier did were classic.

A French Company now owns all the rights to most of their lines and is putting them out. Good stuff!

I grew up on Grenadier and Ral Partha and I dig em to this day.

Cheers,

Jim

Mcat: I share the same opinion as you about many of the older dragons, but I give the newer ones their due too. BTW, I always enjoy seeing your work on eBay. I pass the links along to my friends so they can drool over your work and feel depressed about their own meager painting skills... ;)

~v

Thanks, I try my best. I didn't mean any offence to the modern dragons, they are cool too. :>) Thanks for passing along pics of my dragons, I like to collect too, Im going to start painting my own dragons now, I shed a tear everytime I have to let one go, I sold about 30 over the past year so im getting to the point where I need to do my collection. Take it easy - Monster